Truth Hurts

CHAPTER ONE

I sigh as I strum my guitar, counting the minutes until my parents come back home. It had been 2 weeks since our happy moment, and the weather was cold and foggy. I was wearing a fuzzy grey shirt and tight blue jeans, and my sister was still in bed, wrapped in her warm blankets. I strum a song called 'Free Bird', which my dad had taught me after I had taken lessons. I walked downstairs, out of the attic bedroom me and Blair share, and sat in the same spot I had shared with my dad a few weeks earlier. Just as I was about to turn the T.V. on, I heard knocking on the door. I slowly got up and walked towards it, knowing it wouldn't be my parents. Unenthusiastically, I throw it open and smile.

"Hi. How can I help you?" I say, trying to hide the exhaustion in my voice.

"Hello.. I'm the new neighbor across the street, at 478! I just wanted to let you know! I brought some fresh cookies for you, since it's been so cold lately. If you ever need me, just knock!" the girl said.

"Oh! Okay... But can I get your name first?" I ask.

"Ah! Sure, I'm so sorry, I almost forgot! My name is Clover. Yours?" Clover said, smiling.

"My name's Dahlia. It's nice to meet you." I say, thanking her for the cookies.

The stranger walks off, heading into the big white house across the street. "A new neighbor. How nice!" I say, my mood brightening. I grin as I close the door, locking it. I walk into the kitchen and open the fridge, grabbing the milk jug. I grab two cups- one plastic and one glass- and pour some milk into each. I grab two of the five cookies we were given and place them on napkins. I call Blair down, and she slowly thumps towards me. I hand her the plastic cup and the smaller cookie and she smiles, drinking her milk quickly and gobbling the cookie. She leaves crumbs everywhere, but I don't mind. I drink my milk first, wanting to savor the cookie. Just as I'm about to take my first bite, I hear more knocks on the door. I quickly wipe the extra milk off of my face and set the uneaten cookie down, wondering who it could be.

"I wonder if it could be Clover again. I wonder if she forgot something!" I think to myself, quickly opening the door. Instead of the cheery neighbor I had just met, I see a tall teenage boy with a mop of short, messy brown hair, almost the exact same color as Clovers. His eyes are also the same color, and I immediately wonder if he's her twin. I wave a nervous wave and blush, as I notice that I've been staring at him for almost an entire minute.

"Umm... hi?" He says, breaking the silence. "My name is Caleb... I live across the street with my sister, Clover, and my mom."

"You're Clover's brother?" I ask, with a hint of unwanted sarcasm.

"Ye-yeah. By the way, I'm sorry I'm here after my sister already introduced herself. She left without me knowing, and now I have nothing to give you." He said, clearly embarrassed.

"That's alright. You didn't mean to be rude. My name's Dahlia. It's nice to meet you." I say, smiling.

We talk a little longer about the neighborhood, and then Blair starts crying. I tell Caleb I'm sorry, and we both go our separate ways. I close the door and quickly run up the stairs to Blair, who is laying on the floor. I gasp and pick her up, setting her on my bed. "What happened Blair?" I ask, obviously concerned. She tries to respond, but all she can get out are sniffles and sobs. I sigh, and I lay her down. I don't see any blood, so I run downstairs as fast as I can and grab an ice pack. By the time I get back upstairs, Blair has stopped sobbing. I offer her the ice pack that's shaped like a gummy bear (her favorite ice pack), but she rejects it. She looks at me sadly, and I ask her if she's ready to tell me what happened.

"I was walking around, and I found your cookie. I d-didn't want you to get mad at me, so I ran upstairs to eat it. I w-went into your bed and I saw under the pillow a r-really pretty shiny shape, so I grabbed it and put it on my d-dolly. B-but when I tried taking it off and putting it back under the p-pillow, i-it got stuck. I p-pulled as hard as I could, but it r-ripped my dolly i-instead. And it got stuck on the shiny shape. I tried pulling it off, but it just broke the shape in half. I s-saw a picture space in it so I tried stuffing a leftover skwittle in it. Instead, I l-lost my skwittle and closed the shape. Now I don't have a d-dolly or a skwittle..." Blair explained, crying at the end.

I don't know what to think, or to feel. I'm not mad at Blair for eating my cookie- it did look good. But I am mad that she touched my special locket and jammed it with a skittle. I'm also frustrated, now that I have to go to the mall in the cold weather just to buy another doll. I sigh and ask Blair to hand me the locket, which, at first, she doesn't understand.

"Blair, can I have the locket please?" I ask, trying not to sound peeved.

"W-what's a locket?" She asks, clearly confused.

"The thing that was under my pillow," I say.

She sticks her hand under the pillow and forages for it. Her hand comes up empty, and my temper rises.

"Blair. The shiny thing. That you stuck your skittle in."

"Ohhh! T-that! It's in your jackwet. The pwocket. I didn't want you to find it.

I smack my head and walk over to my coat hanger. I stick my hand inside my white cardigan's pocket and pull out a golden heart with a chain connected to it. My locket. I quickly shake it a little and use my long nails to flip open the heart. I pull out a red skittle and sigh. To Blair's dismay, I toss the skittle into our waste bin. I quickly grab a tissue and use it to grab the few crumbs on the floor, then throw it away. I pick up Blair's doll and look at the damage. All that was broken was the seam that connected the arm to the body.

"Come on Blair. Put your sneakers on. And grab a jacket too. We're going to the mall to get a new doll for you." Blair smiles and grabs her light blue shoes and jacket, putting them on. I help her strap her shoes and then grab mine. We hurry downstairs, and I grab my wallet which is sitting inside the living room drawer. I stuff my black wallet into my pocket, grabbing my phone as well. Forgetting my cardigan, I rush upstairs to grab it. By the time I come back downstairs, Blair is sitting on the sofa with her broken doll in her lap. I ask her to give it to me, which she does reluctantly, and I set it on the table.

Blair looks at me with sad eyes and asks "Do we have to take the bwus?". I sigh and nod my head, knowing that in a year I'll be able to drive us there. "I have to be 18 in order to drive Blair. That's in a year." She looks at the floor and then looks back at me. "Can we use Mwommy's bus pass? I don't want to give them my 25 cents." I tell her we can use my bus pass instead, and I grab it from my wallet. I show her the skittle pattern on it- which she loves- and she smiles. Just as I open the door, I see Caleb across the street, waving. I say hello, and he says hi back. He then hops into a black car and pulls into our driveway.

"Need a ride?" he asks.

I nod, but Blair just stares. I ask her what's wrong, but instead of responding, she falls to the ground, unconscious.